‘It could have been Hannibal Lecter.’

Hi 👋 

Welcome back to The Lazy Reader, where we read some of the best longform stories across the Internet ✨

Last week turned out to be relatively slow for me, which is extremely rare. So rare, actually, that my body was apparently in so much shock that it couldn’t function properly. I felt like I was wading in maple syrup all week. I definitely feel more rested than usual, but it’s just funny that the one week I get to actually do put some serious work in for my side hustles, my body just chooses to shut down. I can’t even be mad at myself for it.

In any case, we’re anchoring this week’s list with another series. Been enjoying these types of reads lately. They let me really immerse myself in one specific story and invest a lot of my emotional and mental energy into the narrative. But what do you guys think? Is this something you want to see more of? Or should I tone it down a bit?

As always, if you missed last week’s email, do feel free to head on over there and give that a read. Otherwise, here are a few choice picks:

And please let me know what you think of the list this week by voting in the poll below.

Happy reading and see you again next Monday!

PS - Thanks to The Marketing Millennials and The Code for sponsoring this week’s newsletter! Please, please do consider clicking their respective ad links below. It’s free, really easy, and helps me out a lot! 🙏🏼

This is a harrowing Reuters investigation from more than 10 years ago, made clear by how central Yahoo! groups are in the story. I’m not sure how big these online communities are today, but unsurprisingly, and tragically, very little has otherwise changed in the online landscape. In fact, I’d say things have gotten much worse.

Reuters here looks at how unregulated online spaces enable illegal and dangerous activity. But this series is more than just a cautionary tale about the Internet—it’s really about some of the worst impulses of humanity. Namely, considering children (particularly those adopted from foreign families) as, frankly, pets.

I guess this is the right moment to say that if you’re a parent, or if you have some lingering trauma about childhood, this series might not be for you. And that if you decide to continue, know that there will be triggering moments.

I don’t know how else to say this but there is an infuriating level of hubris and arrogance here, underpinning all these child abuse cases. How dare these couples rip a baby apart from his or her home country and then later say ‘oh, well, it seems we’re not ready to be parents after all,” and then shop around on sketchy online groups to look for strangers to take thechild?

I’m sorry but all the adults involved in this process (which they euphemistically call “disrupting” an adoption—equally bullsh*t) are monsters. There are so many children who have had their lives derailed or outright destroyed because of this. Imagine the cruelty.

And the government apparently is just toothless to stop any of this from happening, and equally flaccid at helping the victims get back on their feet. So much for the world’s greatest country.

And on that note, a slight tangent: If this story had been told about any other country, especially a black or brown country—say, China or India or Iran—the outrage from the international community and the NGO industrial complex, as it were, would be overwhelming. Correct me if I’m wrong but there’s been close to no noise about this. No sanctions, no UN speeches. Just crickets..

This series happens in five heavy, heart-breaking parts. Here are the rest of em:

Part 2: In a Shadowy Online Network, a Pedophile Takes Home a ‘Fun Boy’

Part 3: With Blind Trust and Good Intentions, Amateurs Broker Children Online

Part 4: Despite ‘Grave Danger,’ Government Allows Internet Forums to go Unchecked

Part 5: Orphaned in Russia, Brought to America, and Then Abandoned Time and Again

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The Bitter Pill: Harvard and the Dark History of Birth Control | The Harvard Crimson, Free

Really appreciate stories like these, which trace some of the scientific, medical breakthroughs we enjoy today back in time, exposing their racist, sexist, eugenicist roots. Extra plus points for the Crimson here, for helping Harvard—a powerful institution that actively continues to benefit from a history of disenfranchising minorities—come to grips with its legacy.

In this case, birth control, which today is widely seen as a cornerstone of the feminist movement and of bodily autonomy for women, was apparently originally conceived as a way to help control the population of allegedly inferior people—a decidedly conservative sticking point. Makes you think about how malleable the political divide is.

The Lost King of France | GQ, $

This is another one of those Michael Paterniti signature pieces. And I know his brand of second-person narrative journalism can be jarring for some (it was for me, certainly) but I think it can be really effective in delivering strong emotional messages. I’d say that’s the case here, where Michael follows a long-removed descendant of the French royalty, who one day finds out that he’s next-in-line for a non-existent throne.

At first, this story seems pointless. Like it’s following a man with a cushy, unremarkable life who dreams up some sort of oppression against him just because he’s left behind in India while the rest of the French royalty are in Europe. But then you realize that that’s the point. Paterniti, with his trademark style, delivers some hard-hitting irony and really brought up some dramatic eye-rolling on my part, even drumming up what I think is some content for the main man in this story. Really incredible work.

An aside: Paterniti is a product of his time, so there are some pretty egregious stereotypes here. They’re very painfully obvious because many of them happen when he describes the Frenchman (an “angel”) in stark contrast to Bhopal, which he paints as some backward place.

Operation Car Wash: Is This the Biggest Corruption Scandal in History? | The Guardian, Free

Really interesting corruption piece. And from someone living in a country that is absolutely plagued by greedy politicians, this one rang all too true for me. But as with any politics story (more so corruption stories), it’s very clear that there’s much more here. The Petrobras scheme isn’t just a one-off episode in Brazil’s history, for sure. It is a product of a long, fraught history, and the entire thing happened not in a vacuum, but in the context of the global geopolitical landscape of its time. Definitely going to be reading more about it.

And also: Again with the stereotypes here, though admittedly not as egregious.

What Lisa Knew | Vanity Fair, $

Mm. Another tragic and painful story involving kids. Definitely be careful when reading this, too.

This story starts with the death of the titular child and then dedicates thousands upon thousands of words to figuring out how that came to be. And in the most important ways, this story becomes an investigation into domestic abuse, but with an incredible amount of detail and nuance. I’m not sure I buy the writer’s ultimate conclusion, but I feel like she did enough legwork to earn the right to come to her own answers.

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Thanks for reading! Please, please reach out if you have feedback, suggestions, or questions. Alternatively, you can fill out this super quick survey form. I promise it won’t even take five minutes of your time, and it’ll be a HUGE help!

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Until next Monday! 👋